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Carrie Gracie Quits BBC Over Unequal Pay

Carrie Gracie quits BBC over Unfair pay

When it comes to equal pay for men and women in the work force we still have quite a way to go and in the latest example of sexism, Carrie Gracie, a top international journalist for the BBC has quit due to the unfair pay structure.

Gracie, who has been with the BBC for 30 years, wrote an open letter in which she accused the corrporation of paying some of their male employees more than their female employees.

She states that she will however stay with the BBC, but not as their China editor anymore and will return to the news room, where she says she hopes she will be paid equally to her male colleagues.

She accused the BBC of having a “secretive and illegal pay culture,” in which two thirds of their employees making more than £150,000 were male

This is actually the truth, as US editor Jon Sopel earned £200,000-£249,999, it was revealed, while Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen earned £150,000-£199,999.

Open Letter

Gracie, a China specialist who is fluent in Mandarin – said “the BBC belongs to you, the licence fee payer.

“I believe you have a right to know that it is breaking equality law and resisting pressure for a fair and transparent pay structure.”

In her open letter, Ms Gracie said: “The Equality Act 2010 states that men and women doing equal work must receive equal pay.

“But last July I learned that in the previous financial year, the two men earned at least 50% more than the two women.

“Despite the BBC’s public insistence that my appointment demonstrated its commitment to gender equality, and despite my own insistence that equality was a condition of taking up the post, my managers had yet again judged that women’s work was worth much less than men’s.”

Gracie says that she approached the BBC and asked them to pay her whqat they were paying her male counterparts.

“Instead the BBC offered me a big pay rise which remained far short of equality,” she added.

“I believe I am very well paid already – especially as someone working for a publicly funded organisation.

“I simply want the BBC to abide by the law and value men and women equally.”

The BBC said there was “no systemic discrimination against women,” which is a pack of nonsense as the proof is certainly in the pudding.

Brad is a former Senior Fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University, is an award-winning travel, culture, and parenting writer. His writing has appeared in many of the Canada’s most respected and credible publications, including the Toronto Star, CBC News and on the cover of Smithsonian Magazine. A meticulous researcher who’s not afraid to be controversial, he is nationally known as a journalist who opens people’s eyes to the realities behind accepted practices in the care of children. Brad is a contributing journalist to Advocator.ca